The College of Education, Health and

Human Sciences

Announces the Final Examination of

Jeffrey (Brian) Smith

for the degree of

Doctor of Education

June 18th, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.

Ball Hall, University of Memphis

Memphis, TN

Biographical Sketch

Master of Science, Behavior Analysis and Therapy, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Psychology, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Associate of Science, Wabash Valley College

Advisory Committee

Laura Casey, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, Committee chair

Mark Conley, Ph.D., Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership

James Meindl, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership

Neal Miller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership

Major Field of Study

Instruction and Curriculum Leadership specializing in Special Education

Period of Preparation:  2010 – 2014

Comprehensive Examination Passed:  April 2013

Evaluating the use of Video Observations With

Behavioral Clinical Supervision

Abstract

The current study evaluated three methods by which clinical feedback may be delivered to practicum students and their effect on various aspects of supervision.  Specifically, participants were asked to deliver feedback simultaneously to a student while watching them practice behavioral activities with a client via video, viewing a video of a student and waiting a duration of time before providing supervision, and to offer feedback when no video was observed of the student engaging in practicum activities.  Measures were developed to help assess the quality of supervision delivered within these three conditions and included: (a) the duration of time it took for feedback to be provided, (b) identifying and addressing erroneous student practices, (c) the number of principles, concepts, and practices discussed, (d) and whether participants followed through with what may be considered important components to providing effective supervision.  Results indicated that a statistically significant difference between means existed for the dependent measures of duration, components to supervision, and the number of task items addressed.  Participants spent a mean of 3184 seconds providing supervision to the student during the condition involving simultaneous feedback, which was longer than the other two conditions combined.  Likewise, participants also performed better in the real time video condition in terms of addressing task list items (M = 12) and including key components of supervision (M = 3.5).  However, participants identified and discussed more behavioral misuses (M = 4.9) during the no video condition.

The College of Education, Health and

Human Sciences

Announces the Final Examination of

Jerry Anthony Hunnicutt

for the degree of

Doctor of Education

June 4, 2014 at 1:00 pm

301 Browning Hall, University of Memphis

Memphis, TN

Biographical Sketch

Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Master of Education, Secondary Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Master of Secondary Education, Business Education, University of Central Arkansas

Advisory Committee

Barbara Mullins-Nelson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Leadership, Committee Chair

Katrina A. Meyer, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Leadership

Jeffery L. Wilson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Leadership

James E. Selbe, Ed.D., Adjunct Member, Department of Leadership

Major Field of Study

Higher Education Administration

Period of Preparation:  2003 – 2014

Comprehensive Examination Passed: 2009

ONLINE COURSE ATTRITION IN ARKANSAS TWO-YEAR COLLEGES

Abstract

This study investigates the attrition in online courses at two-year colleges in the state of Arkansas.  For the purpose of the study, the Survey of Barriers for Online Learning was disseminated to a sample of 283 students from four two-year colleges in the central area of Arkansas during 2013.

Three research questions were the driving catalyst for the study: 1) What are the perceptions of students regarding the pedagogical, managerial, social, and technical barriers to online learning?   2)  Do all student respondents and respondent subgroups perceive the four kinds of barriers to online learning (pedagogical, managerial, social, and technical) to be equally difficult?   3) To what extent do the demographic characteristics of students, student status variables, and student perceptions of four types of barrier predict attrition rate?

This study utilized a combination of repeated measures analysis of variance, hiearchical regression, and step-wise regression on demographic, student success, and student barrier variables to predict online course attrition rate.

Results indicated that as a student’s grade point average increases, the attrition in online classes decreases.  Technical barriers were not significant for the purpose of this study; however it was found that pedagogical and mangerial barriers were more signficant. Conclusions were made that students possessed the technological skills to be successful in an online course and were more concerned with the navigation and curriculum delivery style within the individual courses.